Hip Resurfacing on December 7th with Koen de Smet

[vonhouser]

I spoke with Jan, the nurse, today and asked if he could just bring me 4-5 Celebrex to cover me until I get home. If he does that I think I will take them as it's more comfortable for for now.


Otherwise, yeah, the cure is worse than the disease. And I am pretty sure Dr Gross uses it for 6 weeks, but he's doing uncemented.


I don't know why I'm not just blowing off the 90 degree rule, since de Smet was so clear about.

[blinky]

That is interesting, the trade off between HO and bone building. I had wondered about that, too. Some docs give their patients a shot of radiation instead of the anti-inflammatories. (I had four weeks of Mobic. I took it at least in part because it helped with the pain. It was easy to drop the narcotics after a few days, but that daily Mobic did help me manage.)


I did have the 90 degree rule and followed it, but Dr Gross allowed there was some wiggle room in there. (My husband pushed him on how much, but I followed the rules.)


I did notice, however, that even once I was allowed to bend more than 90 degrees, I was stiff and sore and didn't always want to do it. I don't think that was from the six weeks of restriction, I think it just took a while for my soft tissue to heal and my muscles to build back.


Are you going to get hydro therapy?

[vonhouser]

Well, tomorrow is two weeks. I'm walking about 2-3 miles a day on one crutch and it's fairly comfortable. Pain at night has gotten less, and I can tell that I'm getting stronger with the physical therapy exercises. I can do the sideways walking without the crutch, but regular walking I really need it, although I'm not leaning on the crutch much, just using it for a little support. I really want to make sure I have a normal gait before I stop using it, because I'm able to get around quite a bit with it. Going up stairs using both legs is going just fine, which is great, because I have stair at work and at home.


I'm still very tired, and trying to honor that, working short days, getting into bed early, and making sure I get good rest. I'm sleeping better which is also helpful. I can sleep quite comfortably on my un-operated side with a pillow, which is what I used to do before so that's great.


The bizarre muscle cramping seems to have stopped. I used to have intense groin and hamstring cramps when sitting or walking. I haven't had one of those in a couple of days, so those muscles are probably getting over being mad at me.


I am having a lot of groin pain in the psoas region, which I know is a thing that happens, and I'm still really not able to lift the right leg without great difficulty. Getting in and out of bed is easier, but driving a car seems like a week away at least. Fortunately, I live in a walkable neighborhood, and have no trouble walking to work and other places around here.


I'm sitting a lot more since I left Belgium, which causes some low back pain, but I assume that a lot of things will resolve one the hip gains even a little bit of ROM.


I'm looking forward to getting rid of my dressing tomorrow, and to getting off the blood thinners and compression stocking next week! These little benchmarks are helpful.


I've been not worrying about the 90 degree thing for just sitting and other basic moves, but trying to respect it for dressing and picking things up off the floor. I might be a little more flexible with it after three weeks. De Smet wasn't wrong, you kind of can just pay attention to your body and it lets you know what is ok and what doesn't feel right.